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Monday, April 25, 2011

Lima

Well Lima has been great so far! We have a great CS host here and he has showed us around the city and helped us out a lot. His mom doesn't speak a word of English but she is super sweet to us and she has fed us constantly! Ben and I are fat and happy haha. We have had some amazing food and the food in general here in Peru has been better than in Bolivia. Thus far, Cusco has been my favourite city but I really like Lima too.

Today we walked around the city and enjoyed our day with some other couch surfers it was really good. Tonight we had Cheviche. It is a Peruvian dish (raw fish cooked in lemon juice) it was pretty good and kinda similar to sushi. I wasn't extremely impressed but it wasn't terrible either.

Last night our host took us to one of the most amazing light/water shows I have ever seen in my life! It seriously puts any show in Vegas or anywhere else to shame. It cost us $1.50 for entry fee and that is a fair bit for the average Peruvian so most people were tourists there but some locals were there too. They had huge water fountains/jets of water that would show up and it was synchronized to music and lights. They projected images thru the water to make it look almost 3D! It was one of the most amazing things I have seen in South America so far and it was only $1.50 USD! Not only that but, they also had a "water maze".

It was water jets that were timed to go off at certain times and you had to make it thru the maze without getting wet. I got shot by the water jets so many times haha I was soaking wet! All the locals were watching us and laughing at us haha. It was the most fun I have had in quite a while and I was so amazed that all of that was in Lima Peru. There is 8 million people in this city and over half of them don't have access to clean water,sewage etc but they have enough money to put on this amazing light/water show for the tourists. It is actually kinda sad to think about but also enjoyable to watch the show. The difference between rich and poor here in really large and unfortunate. But so it goes in 3rd world countries. It is humorous in a way that no matter how rich someone is in Peru no matter how much money they have they still can't throw toilet paper in the toilet even if they have a golden toilet because the sewer system can't handle it.

I also has my first experience in "Alternative Medicine" we met a guy from Mexico studying to be a doctor in Alternative Medicine and I have never bought into any of that stuff but I let him convince me to shove some sticks with this gooey stuff all over them up my nose. It was weird and crazy but I think it actually did help even though they tasted and smelled horrible haha. It was an interesting experience and never say never I guess they aren't all full of BS because I do feel a little better! Also, our host Dante (he is awesome) his mom is a great cook and she doesn't speak a word of English but she keeps feeding and feeding us and it is so so good haha I am going to be so fat! But I am happy and she reminds me very much of my own mother in the fact that she loves to cook and cook well.

Tomorrow we fly off to Buenos Aires Argentina and leave Peru behind sadly. Machu Picchu was great and I had a really good time here. But I am really excited for BA! Next time I write I will be in a new country with a new currency :) talk at ya later,Tyler